5 life events that inspired E tu.
Image credits: Yinka Iloria
Article highlights:
From Brunswick to East London, how being jobless lead to major discomfort and maximum learning
If chairs could talk - an upcycling workshop with furniture designer Yinka Lori.
Two weeks volunteering in the Jungle refugee camp changed the way I see the world.
I found my guru in Shoreditch - Orsola De Castro, Founder of Fashion Revolution.
The best conference of my life - ‘Circular Transitions’ an introduction to Textile Design and the Circular Economy.
Introduction
E tū is the Māori word to ‘stand’. We are taking a ‘stand’ for papatuanuku (mother earth), by raising awareness about textile waste’s impact on the environment. We are doing this by respecting the resources that have gone into making the products we consume and keeping them in circulation for longer.
How did E tū come to be?
The concept of E tū came to me about five years ago; I had been attending music festivals for years and noticed an increase in the amount of waste I was seeing left behind year on year. n my career major change was afoot, after five years working as a Senior Designer at Country Road I realised it was time to set out on a journey to find “projects with purpose”. At the time I thought I was looking for more meaningful freelance work, however looking back what I was really searching for was sustainable leadership within the fashion and textile industry. I wanted to find and work for a brand that was disrupting ‘business as usual’ through radical transparency and systems change; pushing for changes that minimise the impact on the environment by curbing production emissions and textile waste that end up in landfill.
I wish I could say I landed my dream job but I didn’t, instead what I found was a series of experiences which in isolation don’t directly relate to E tū but in hindsight were important milestones and markers in my journey to thought leadership and the birth of the E tū concept.
Event 1 - From Brunswick to East London, how being jobless led to major discomfort and maximum learning.
Intro
In 2015 after five years working in a Senior Designer role at Country Road across all departments I decided it was time for change. I left the world of tote bags and ‘modern Australian style’ searching for answers to questions that often fell flat within the corporate retail space ‘Are we doing enough to minimise our impact on the environment by using sustainable textile fibers and minisming textile waste?’.
London started off like a kick in shin
Challenged by the Australian fashion industry’s inaction on fashion sustainability I moved to London to better understand what fashion innovation really looked like. The plan sounded simple but making the move was anything but, mugged on my first week abroad, I lived on friends’ couches and spent weeks upon weeks completing project briefs for job applications. My ego took a hit when explaining my work history at Country Road I would often get the response “is that a agriculture and farming brand?”. I soon became used to rejection with recruiters telling me “sorry you don’t have any UK design experience”.
High fashion in a small bar
I spent the first 8 months working in an East London natural wine bar frequented by top models, famous barbers, chefs, architects and the BOF family. While I wasn’t working in the fashion industry I had some enlightening conversations with some brilliant minds and can say that this small tiny bar is where I met my London family. Out of the blue I got a call from the Design Manager at Marks & Spencer who’d fortunately heard of Country Road and wanted to interview me;, that same afternoon I accepted a 6 month contract for a 4-day a week freelance job.
Marks & Sparkks
Marks & Spencer was trying all sorts of new and innovative ways of delivering products, from designing smaller collections digitally produced out of Turkey, to user testing garment and textiles prints on consumers through app technology (think swipe right on a floral dress as a way to gauge whether that dress would do well in an area). They were also talking to a set of ‘science based’ goals and targets that they were working to. This opened my eyes to corporate accountability and what it truly means to lead and communicate transparently, which I hadn’t seen before. Another insight was that we were invested in continual learning within the team (even as a freelancer!) with talks and workshops constantly popping up into our calendars, learning about the future of automation, how driverless cars will impact transportation and how climate change is impacting the industry. They were not shying away from the challenges the industry faced, instead they created spaces at all levels of the business to come together and learn and share ideas. I had found the innovation and in some ways the leadership that I was looking for, but I still felt restless.
Event 2 - If chairs could talk - an upcycling workshop with furniture designer Yinka Lori.
#Workshop #Education #Upcycling #Innovation #storytelling
New to London, jobless and broke I threw myself into exploring London’s diverse art and design scene. Inspired by the vibrant work of British Nigerian designer Yinka Lori his philosophy breathes life into discarded furniture by upcycling discarded chairs. His critically acclaimed 2015 show ``If chairs could talk” told the stories of his boyhood friendships; with storytelling being a central pillar to his eye-catching work.
Over two cold wintery nights in London my friend, Saskia and I attended his workshop in XXX. I remember riding my bike there in the rain and really not knowing what to expect. Working in his studio Yinka taught us how to upcycle old wooden chairs he’d found in op-shops, showed us the sanding process and encouraged us to be bold with our colour and selection of dutch wax-print textiles. Using my hands to repurpose the old into the new was empowering, I left the workshop feeling grateful for the experience to learn a new skill direct from a designer.
This workshop experience of knowledge sharing and upcycling still burns bright in my mind today and it’s fair to say the chair is probably the most valuable possession to return with me to Melbourne; I like to think that it’s the only Yinka Lori inspired chair in Australia and I hope one day his work will be on show on this side of the world so others can see the beauty of upcycling old furniture.
Event 3 - Two weeks volunteering in the Jungle refugee camp changed the way I see the world.
#Volunteering #Inclusivity #Sustainability
When life gives you lemons, being kind to strangers is always a good remedy. In 2015 my friend Saskia and I hitchhiked from London to Dover and ferried across the channel to France, where we spent a few weeks volunteering in the Women and Children’s Centre in The Jungle refugee camp.
A sea of tents
On arrival at The Jungle I couldn’t believe my eyes, it looked like we had arrived at a music festival (sans main stage) with a shanty town of tents stretching as far as the eye could see. It was difficult to comprehend what I was seeing. In The Jungle tents were one of most sought after donations. This sat in stark contrast to the privileged attitude at Australian music festivals where patrons simply walk away from entire camp sites because they ‘can’t be bothered’ cleaning it up, leaving perfectly useuable tents and other camping equipment.
On day two we learnt that the women and children often missed out on critical clothing donations due to a number of reasons a) the stronger, younger men often collected more donations than they needed and sold high ticket items of a ‘black market’ as a way to make a few extra dollars, b) some of the women were simply not allowed to shop alongside the men due to religious reasons. As a result we were tasked with establishing a women's only market, collecting the donations from the distribution centre and setting up a safe space where women could shop for themselves and their children with dignity.
A mountain of donated textiles
The mountain of donated clothes in the room, from brands we know and ‘love’ that were simply inappropriate not only due to the freezing cold temperature but also due to the womens’ body shapes and/or religious backgrounds. When survival is all that matters, a skimpy dress, glittery jacket or crop top really isn’t what you are after, it made me think deeply about the notion of “fashion trends” and how pointless the notion is. We are told that ‘you need this product now’ but in reality it’s just a marketing tool to get people to continue buying things. The experience really hit home that this mountain of donated clothing was really just one step away from living out the remainder of its life in landfill, which is such a terrible waste of resources that have been poured into every piece, for them to have no other purpose and become ‘trash’. When I saw waste at this scale it challenged my thinking and I knew then that I had to make a plan to get out of the fast fashion industry.
The Jungle experience showed me that despite the fact that we humans have more in common than we do differences, the countries we are born in and the passports we hold determine the opportunities we have in life. It showed me the harsh reality of the human made systems in which the world operates and the lengths those who are faced with conflict and racial persecution will go to keep their families safe from harm.
Event 4 - I found my guru in Shoreditch - Orsola De Castro, Founder of Fashion Revolution.
#Activism #Innovation #Sustainability
Intro
As part of London Fashion Week 2015, I attended a talk in Shoreditch by Orsola De Castro, Founder of Fashion Revolution. I vividly remember attending the talk on my own, feeling vulnerable and awkward as I arrived at the event and knew no one. Taking a seat in the audience I felt so deeply aligned with what she was saying about the urgent need for the fashion industry to take responsibility and be accountable for the conditions in which their textile and clothing are made that I found myself holding back tears with a giant lump in my throat.
Words of wisdom
At the end of the talk I approached Orsola (nervous AF, again overwhelmed with a sense of vulnerability), I told her the talk resonated with me and as a textile designer working for big corporate retailers and asked what I can do to make change. Her advice short and to the point, was to keep raising awareness, asking questions and demanding change in the places I worked.
I greatly admire the activism and passion Orsola demonstrates demanding the fashion industry change the way it operates.
The event showed me that Orsolo was just another human like all of us. Compelled to raise awareness and take a stand on an issue that’s important to her, she has built Fashion Revolution with a large army of volunteers who work hard to provide free tools and resources to consumers, downloadable social media content and email templates inspiring grass roots activism and change.
Event 5 - The best conference of my life - ‘Circular Transitions’ an introduction to Textile Design and the Circular Economy.
#CircularEconomy #Sustainability #Education
Intro
In November 2016 I attended ‘Circular Transitions’, a Mistra Future Fashion Conference on ‘Textile Design and the Circular Economy’ and the experience blew my mind. The event was organised by Dr Kate Goldsworthy and Professor Rebecca Earley at the University of Arts London. It was part of a research project for the Mistra Future Fashion consortium - a cross-disciplinary program with the vision of closing the loop in fashion and creating systemic change in Swedish industry and culture.
Materials, models and mindsets
Talks were presented over three days across key areas including:
Materials - Design which responds to technology, science and material developments.
Models - Design for systems, services, models, business, networks and communities.
Mindsets - Design of behaviours; tools, frameworks and experiences to enable and support collaboration, mindset change and improve decision making.
The conference was incredible; seeing a group of passionate thought leaders, designers, academics and industry leaders genuinely challenging and reimagining the entrenched systems the industry operates in made me feel hopeful. It also showed me the potential of design thinking as a way to creatively solve the problems we face. There was fire burning within me for those three days telling me I was on the right path of exploration. That same fire continues to burn and live through E tū a project that deeply aligns with my purpose and vision for the future.
Conclusion
In isolation these five events appear to be radically different, however looking back the lessons to come from these experiences led me to a greater understanding and clarity of my purpose (though it was impossible to see at the time).
These lessons have gone on to be the foundations of E tū and are represented in the values we ‘stand for’ which are:
Sustainability
Innovation
Inclusivity
Education
We are on a mission to live with purpose and reduce the volume of textile waste in landfill by applying circular design principles that breathe life into textiles otherwise destined for landfill.Our impact while small is packed with meaning, intention and purpose and that is something that makes us incredibly proud every single day.
About the author.
Rachel founded E tu in 2018.
After a decade working in fast fashion Rachel has an insider’s understanding of the impact the fashion and textile industry has on our planet. Frustrated at the lack of leadership and transparency she founded E tu as a way to advocate for change, disrupt the system and educate people about the power of their choices.